


Something to Hold Onto

by ReneeoftheStars



Series: Teyla Marin and Gida Tiatkin [5]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Pre-Clone Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 22:31:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18433430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReneeoftheStars/pseuds/ReneeoftheStars
Summary: Padawan Gida searches for a particular gift to cheer her Master up.





	Something to Hold Onto

**Author's Note:**

> Part of a submission for tumblr blog celebrate-the-clone-wars' fanart Friday prompt, Illuminated Pasts

Gida's eyes hurt as she stared intently at the blue screen before her, information passing almost too quickly for her to read. _It's got to be here somewhere._ She'd been able to sneak into the Temple's security center and access a holorecording terminal, and had been scrolling through the list of recordings for the last few minutes.

The list of words stopped, flashing that no further data was available. She leaned forward to peer at the date – five years previously. _Not far back enough._

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. It had been a long shot, but she was still disappointed.

“Do you want to tell me why you're here?” a voice behind her asked.

Gida whipped around, starting guiltily as she spied Master Cin Drallig leaning against a pillar on the far side of the room.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked sheepishly. She should have sensed him – should have _seen_ him. Her lekku and cheeks warmed in embarrassment, and she wrestled with the uncomfortable emotion. It had been nearly two years since she'd become a Padawan Learner, and she was somewhat pleased to realize she was not as uneasy around the older Jedi as she used to be.

“Since you came in.” He pushed away from the pillar and stepped toward her. “You're distracted, Padawan Tiatkin.”

Gida bowed her head. “Yes, Master.”

“And what's the source of your distraction?”

“I... I wanted to find a recording. But it doesn't look like it exists anymore.” She glanced up at the stern-faced Human. “And I know I'm not supposed to be up here.”

“Then why are you?”

She didn't answer right away.

Cin Drallig approached, and Gida scooted out of his way as his fingers tapped away at the entry pad on the terminal, eyes taking in what information he saw there.

“And what happened five years ago in the Room of a Thousand Fountains that you wanted to see?”

“Actually, I was trying to go back further than that,” Gida admitted. “But it looks like all the older recordings were purged.”

“What do you seek?”

Gida hesitated, raising a hand to play with the silka beads hanging from her earcone. She chose her words carefully, not wanting to sound like she was tattling. “Master Teyla has been...sad, lately. She's more withdrawn. I'm not sure why.” That was only a part-truth, but it didn't feel relevant.

Master Drallig waited, and Gida felt a bubble of impatience in her. No, she recognized, it wasn't hers. It was his. With a breath, she took the feeling and released it before she could augment it.

“I wanted to cheer her up. Give her something she could look at that would make her happy.

“And that would be?”

“A recording of Master Sifo-Dyas.”

Master Drallig frowned, and Gida rushed on. “She gets happy every time she talks about him, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't have anything of his, not even a holo. I want her to have something of him to hold onto.” _Teyla misses_ him, she almost said aloud, but kept that part to herself; attachment was forbidden for a Jedi. And it certainly wasn't her place to discuss her Master's emotions with a senior Master.

She reached out with her feelings, trying to gauge the Head of Security's emotions, but after his slip-up, he kept them tightly controlled. His brow furrowed further, and Gida felt a twinge of disapproval, and sensed that he had already concluded that Teyla still mourned for her Master.

Still, Master Drallig said nothing. After pondering for a few moments, he crossed the room to another console. Gida trailed after him uncertainly. After he entered a long clearance code, a different screen came to life.

“Security recordings older than five years are uploaded into the memory archive of the Temple,” he said over his shoulder as his fingers flew across the controls. “After twenty years, the data is purged completely. The recording you seek will not have been lost yet.”

Relief coursing through her, Gida watched as the listings switched to actual video feed of the Room of a Thousand fountains. Figures of various sizes and species flitted in and out of view as Master Drallig's trained eyes searched for something specific. It moved just slightly too fast for Gida to monitor; when dizziness threatened her, she turned away from the bright light.

“Here, Padawan,” he said after a few minutes.

Gida looked back around to find Master Drallig cropping the image to center on two figures near one of the smaller waterfalls. The taller being was a Human man, long dark hair half-drawn back into a bun at the top of his head, clad in a high-collard blue tunic and black gloves. His hooded eyes seemed kind as he spoke with the youngling before him – Gida blinked.

The youngling was a Pantoran girl, running through lightsaber drills under Sifo-Dyas's instruction. Her hair was chin-length, her Padawan braid flinging back and forth over her shoulder as she blocked incoming energy shots from the training remote. Even round faced, bright-eyed, and tiny – there was no mistaking Teyla Marin.

“She's so small,” Gida said without thinking.

Cin Drallig chuckled. “She's probably ten or eleven here. Sifo-Dyas knew even then he would take her as a Padawan.”

Gida watched as Sifo-Dyas and Teyla trained. Her grandmaster tended to keep his hands clasped behind his back, except when gesturing to the remote, or to Teyla's stance or grip on her lightsaber. Two small sections of hair hung on either side of his weary-looking face. The more he talked to Teyla, the more his stiff expression softened; his smile grew, his eyes danced. As she watched, Gida saw tiny mannerisms that she recognized in her own Master: hands behind back, resting a hand over the heart, a half-smile, raising eyebrows to convey a joke –

“You would have liked him,” Master Drallig said after a while, watching the old recording with a faraway look in his eye. The sentiment surprised her.

“Would he have liked me?” Gida couldn't help but wonder.

His lips twitched before his expression returned to normal. “Almost certainly.” Typing in a few more commands, the holo winked out, and a data chip extended from the console. “This chip will be compatible with her datapad and holocom. I hope it brings her some peace of mind.”

Gida took it gingerly, slipping it into a pouch on her belt. “Thank you, Master.”

“Go now. And Padawan Tiatkin,” he called as she paused in the doorway. “In the future, do get permission before you attempt to access security records. Understood?”

Gida grinned. “Yes, Master.”

*

Teyla sank onto her bed with a groan, weary and stressed and in a generally foul mood. Of course, she did her best to keep optimistic in front of her empathic Padawan, but she could only act for so long. It was just a temporary matter... but still.

Her holocom rested on her bedside table. Realizing she ought to get back in touch with the Mon Cal Senator's request for counsel, Teyla paused as she noticed an unfamiliar input signal on the comm’s main menu. It signaled that a memory chip had been successfully linked. She frowned.

Tabbing through the comm controls, she found the chip inventory had only a single file saved on it. She activated it.

The blue holo sprang to life, and she stared into the eyes of her old Master. The hole in her heart that had opened when he had died ached at the sight of him. Her eyes traveled to find a much-younger version of herself standing before him, deflecting energy bolts with his guidance. She gazed back to Sifo-Dyas.

She sat there for a long time, watching the holo on repeat, and slowly, slowly, she sank back onto her bed, a smile growing on her face as she remembered her Master's mannerisms and voice, recalling other memories that she had forced down and done her best not to dwell on. Oh, she missed Sifo-Dyas.

Folding her legs beneath her, she settled into meditation, focusing on the holo of the man that had been like a father to her.

Gida must have sensed her sudden contentment from her quarters; Teyla felt the girl share a feeling of happiness with her before disappearing to allow Teyla to meditate in peace. 

Teyla made a mental note to thank her Padawan for this kindness.


End file.
